TYME Story
by AnonLight
Summary: The story of Tenembrae; a gentleman with the power of Meta Space-Time as he travels to different Universes for adventures and friendships


**Prologue**

"This is it. This is where it all ends".

An elderly man in an immaculate, black suit makes his way up a long flight of navy blue stairs. The stairs themselves were made from really thick glass, along with the walls that overlooked the entire area; a neon-blue swirling vortex. The elderly gentleman used his solid oak cane to aid his travel, his right hand holding the crimson ball which was the top of the cane. He continued up the seemingly endless staircase as neon-blue electricity surged along the walls of the place. He continued to walk up the stairs, until he accidently slipped and fell down. As he picked himself up, he was aided by three mysterious people. The gentleman then placed his hand on each of theirs and nodded to them.

"Thank you".

He then continued his journey, gradually relying more on his cane the further he progressed. The three people following closely behind him, until they made it to the top. Before them was a long bridge made of the navy-blue, transparent glass, inside a vast and massive room. The ceiling was thousands of metres above and below the bridge were clusters of turning cogs of varying types and sizes, most of them ginormous and made of the same glass as the bridge. On the other side of the bridge was a massive arena surrounded by smaller pillars. Within, a large pillar of neon-blue energy lit up the entire area with its light while the same electricity from before surged from it and across the cogs and distant walls of the room. The gentleman and the three other people made their way across the bridge, while they remained focused. Within minutes, they crossed the bridge and made their way up the stairs before arriving at the arena. Within the arena stood a man clad in strange white and gold armour, with neon-blue circles on the sides of his calves and elbows, his back to the gentleman. The armoured man's accomplices then separated from him as the gentleman's companions separated from him, leaving the two alone.

"MEDDLER"!

The armored man then looked over his shoulder, revealing his entire head was concealed by a black helmet-like mask that gleamed with the energy pillar's glow.

"I've been expecting you… Old man…"

The Meddler then turned to face the elderly gentleman; both of them staring each other down. Each of them waiting for the other to make the first move. Silence fell across the arena, except for the crackles of the electricity surging around the area.

"We finally found you"!

"Well done... Personally I thought the stairs alone would finish you… I guess you are tougher than you look..."

"What do you hope to gain from doing this? From meddling with the flow of Time and Space"?

The Meddler was quiet.

"What is wrong? Cat got your…"

*BANG*! *BANG*!

The gentleman staggered back before falling to his knees and clutching onto his cane while heavily leaning on it, breathing heavily while trying his best to block out the pain. He then looked down to find that he had been shot twice; one in his right knee and another in his left shoulder. But instead of bleeding out, the wounds began to age rapidly.

"NGH"!

"That… is more like it…" The Meddler muttered as he raised his arm rifle.

The elderly gentleman attempted to place his hand over the wound on his shoulder, but his hand was immediately shot.

"You will leave those alone… or I will fire upon you again…"

"NGH"!

"What is the matter… Cat got your tongue…"?

The Meddler then knelt down in front of the wounded gentleman and grabbed him by the chin before lifting his head so he could look him in the eyes.

"Know this… The only reason why you still draw breath… is because I know that you would see it coming…"

The gentleman briefly gasped before regaining his composure.

"You…. Still have not answered my question….."

"I guess you really want to know…"

The Meddler then shoved the gentleman to the floor before standing up.

"What I hope to gain… is to level the playing field…"

"What"!?

"Across the Omniverse… across Time and Space… The hero always wins… What I want to do… is to turn the tide… so that every villain… from every Universe… will triumph…"

"WHY"!?

"The question is not why… but why not…"

The elderly gentleman then struggled to stand while continuing to talk to The Meddler.

"You understand nothing. Meddling with Time and Space so brazenly will have dire consequences. Consequences you cannot even fathom".

"Then I welcome it with open arms… Such concerns are beneath me…"

"Such arrogance"!

"Hm… you are right… despite killing Chronos… despite gaining this power… I must not get too arrogant…"

The gentleman eventually stood up while breathing heavily.

"When? When did you choose to go down this path"?

"What are you babbling about… old man…"?

"You have been gifted with the power of Space and Time. Such a power should only be used for good, not for evil".

"Hmm…"?

"Think of the tremendous amounts of good you can do. The lives you can save".

"The lives I can save… What a stupid thing to say…"

"What"!?

"…I am far beyond such trifling ideals… ever since I first obtained this power…"

"Then you are a fool if you think you can get away with this"!

"Don't you see… I have gotten away with this…"!

The Meddler then looked at his hand as neon-blue energy coursed through them.

"…I was chosen to have this power… and with it… I have succeeded in everything that I have desired… and when I killed the god of Time… I realised that fate was on my side…"

The Meddler and the elderly gentleman then began to circle one another, still looking for an opening.

"Where did you get this power"?

"Call it fate… call it genetics… call it destiny… Whatever you want to call it… the fact is that the true power of Time and Space is mine to command…"

"The power you possess is not the true power of Time and Space"!

"So you say… but you have seen a hint of my power… in the desert…"

"!"

"…And when I defeated every other person that can manipulate Space, Time or both… I knew that was my destiny…"

"What"!?

"…We are two halves of the same coin, old man… destined to fight… destined to die… Creation and Destruction… Pure and Dark… Good and Evil..."

The two beings continued to circle one another.

"How many times have we done this…"?

"Done what"?

"…This… this exact moment… this exact series of events…"

"Stop spouting nonsense to try and distract me".

"…The two of us are bound by fate… we are destined to oppose each other… in a never-ending cycle of battle…"

The Meddler and the elderly gentleman then stopped in front of the energy pillar.

"…But know this… We have fought this fight a thousand times before… and we will fight this fight a thousand times more…"

Both the elderly gentleman and The Meddler stared each other down before The Meddler conjured neon-blue shurikens from his fingers and thumbs and threw them at his enemy in a blink, but the gentleman raised his cane to create a deep-red magical wall and deflected the attack. The elderly gentleman then threw his cane high into the air before catching it by its top.

"I'm not the same gentleman you faced in the desert"! He declared as he held his cane in an en-guard stance while the cane coursed with deep red energy.

The Meddler then reeled back and began to pull a large, two-handed broadsword made of neon-blue energy from the core in his chest before holding it by his side.

"OK… Old man…"

Neon-blue electricity surged across the entire arena as the two beings then shot toward each other in a blink and locked weapons, the sheer force of their colliding powers creating a sonic boom that distorted Space within the arena in the process. They struggled to gain the upper hand against one another as deep-red and neon-blue bolts of energy shot from the locked weapons, as they looked at each other and never breaking eye contact.

"I can see all of your timelines…"

"Funny…. I was about to say the same thing…"

The two beings then repelled one another with a powerful push before The Meddler swept his hand to distort Space around the gentleman. However the man spun backward in the air while generating Space between him and the distortion, before landing on his feet and immediately conjuring a couple of creatures made of deep-red energy using his cane. The Meddler then cartwheeled and somersaulted away to evade the creatures' pursuit as the gentleman then tapped his cane on the floor, reducing Time itself to a crawl. The Meddler then raised his sword and unleashed a powerful neon-blue cutting wave that destroyed the creatures and everything else in its path. The gentleman then used his cane to clash with the attack and guide it aside before immediately blocking The Meddler's surprise attack from mid-air, their weapons locking once again before they continue their swordfight; the gentleman's expert fencing style being put to the test by The Meddler's more agile swordsmanship. The two beings using their Space-Time powers to see into their enemy's timelines in order to see the openings for their attacks to land, but they also used their powers to block and counter the incoming attacks. The made their fight perfectly even as the gentleman parried, riposted and feinted The Meddler's aggressive attacks while The Meddler somersaulted, cartwheeled and flipped the gentleman's precise attacks. Each clash of their weapons creating powerful bolts of deep-red and neon-blue energies that surged across the floor and pillars of the arena as the two beings continued their fight. Suddenly The Meddler telekinetically grabbed the gentleman by the head and threw him across the arena before leaping towards him like a bullet and raising his sword for a follow-up attack, but the gentleman managed to rewind Time on himself to pass him by and evade the attack before landing on his feet and unleashing a powerful deep-red beam form his sword. The Meddler then used his momentum on the upcoming pillar and grabbed it to swing around it, avoiding the beam as he propelled himself toward the gentleman and launched several neon-blue shuriken at him. But as the gentleman prepared himself for the attack, he exclaimed before immediately spinning around and lunging behind him.

"Too slow…" The Meddler mocked as he began to vanish.

"Am I"?

Suddenly the shurikens flew into a deep-red portal as it closed behind them while the gentleman back-flipped over The Meddler's sneak attack as he attempted to slash him from behind. As the gentleman landed on his feet, The Meddler slid on his feet and darted toward his enemy. As the gentleman readied himself, The Meddler swiped away the Space between them and immediately closed the distance. This caught the gentleman completely off guard.

"…You're finished…"

Suddenly from below, a deep-red portal opened and The Meddler's shurikens shot out, pushing the sword upwards and redirecting the attack at the last second. The gentleman saw his chance to attack and raised his cane. But The Meddler then unleashed a neon-blue explosion at close range with a flick of the wrist, sending the gentleman flying back as he took the full force of the attack and crashing onto the arena's edge. As he struggled to pick himself up, he noticed that he was aging and that his cane had aged to dust. The Meddler then summoned his arm rifle and immediately began firing at the gentleman, forcing him to roll out of the way and hide behind a nearby pillar. As he was forced to hide from The Meddler's fire, the gentleman began to think to himself while summoning his cane.

"The Meddler is tougher than I thought. He's able to see into every timeline, like me. I need to think of something… Think, Tenembrae. Think".

The Meddler meanwhile continued to fire at the gentleman's location.

"The old man… he is tougher than I expected… He's able to see into every possibility simultaneously… like me… I need to do something…"

Suddenly The Meddler had a brilliant idea and began to open a neon-blue portal. Tenembrae continued to hide behind the pillar while chanting an incantation, but he immediately stopped and leapt aside as a massive bullet train crashed through the pillar and fell into the cogs below. Tenembrae raised his cane and opened a deep-red portal for the train to fall into before closing it, then turning to face The Meddler.

"…Do you remember that train…"?

"Of course. But there was nothing I could do for it".

Suddenly The Meddler opened another neon-blue above him, causing several large meteors to shoot out of it and head for Tenembrae. As he transmuted them into butterflies, he was suddenly washed away by a tidal wave that The Meddler summoned from another one of his portals.

"…How does it feel… old man… to have your greatest failures being used against you…"? He declared as several time windows appeared around the arena, each of them showing a moment in Tenembrae's life where he failed to save people, races, Universes or even himself.

Tenembrae noticed that the water was carrying destroyed pieces of building and vehicles, as well as several drowned corpses of civilians of all ages as they were all being washed off the arena into the cogs below.

"Drat. If I use my powers on the wave, he'll know and set up a counter…." The gentleman thought to himself while trying to swim away from the edge.

The Meddler then opened another portal above him, causing a powerful bolt of lightning to crash onto the water and electrocute everything in the process.

"Your move… old man…"

Suddenly a car horn blared and caused The Meddler to turn around. As he did, he was shocked to see a red Ferrari drive up the electrified wave and jump off it to be high in the air before crashing into him.

"Well played…"

But The Meddler outstretched his left hand and held the car in the air before slowly crushing it with a clenching fist.

"…But foolish…"

But just as he crushed the car, a cannonball shot out from a deep-red portal and crashed into the heap. This caused the heap to fly into The Meddler, but he noticed this in the last minute and leapt up to evade it.

"DAMN THAT… WHAT"!? He declared as the cannonball that hit the heap had ricocheted off it and was flying at him at high speeds.

The Meddler attempted to block and was immediately struck by the attack, but vanished in a puff of smoke and was replaced by a large piece of log. Tenembrae then began to look around, trying to find where The Meddler could be hiding. Suddenly he spun around and prepared to attack, but was surprised to see a little girl. She had an emotionless expression on her face as she looked at the gentleman.

"L…Lain"!?

"It's all your fault…."

Suddenly he was sent hurtling into the top of one of the pillars with extreme force before falling and hitting the floor while dropping his cane in the process. Tenembrae struggled to pick himself up using the pillar before picking up his cane, before spotting The Meddler on the other end of the arena. But as he took a step forward, the arena was suddenly filled with familiar faces wandering aimlessly.

"It can't be…."!

"…Poor old man… I hope your memory isn't failing you…"

Tenembrae then began to push his way through the crowd in order to get to The Meddler, but every so often he is held back by a familiar face. One of them was a knight clad in strange wolf-like armour wielding a magical broadsword, who attempted to slice the gentleman and locked weapons.

"No…."

"You.… you doomed us…. You doomed us all…."

Tenembrae was forced to disarm the knight and strike him at the back of the head to knock him out before continuing to make his way through the crowd. But as he got further, a familiar face used their bow to choke him from behind and hold him back.

"Not you too"!

"Why…. Why didn't you save us"?

Tenembrae struggled to break free from the hold, but it was too strong for him and he was forced to his knees in exhaustion. Suddenly Tenembrae began to stand back up, but he was immediately shot in the head and fell to the floor as a result. Tenembrae then saw the one who was choking him; a young Caucasian woman with long blonde hair and a black and white checkered shirt and blue jeans.

"You were the one…. Who killed my friends…."

"You know that isn't true"!

"You should have been there to save them"!

Tenembrae then wiped his forehead and immediately removed the bullet while healing his wound, before leaping off the floor to avoid a ground pound from a muscular Caucasian man with black hair and wearing a blue tracksuit.

"You'll pay for what you did"!

The young man then began firing energy blasts from his hands while the young woman fired energy arrows from her bow, but Tenembrae raised his cane and unleashed a deep-red pulse that engulfed the arena and changed the entire area into a deep-red colour scheme. This caused The Meddler to leap backward, but he was caught in the pulse and found himself frozen in Time, including the spinning cogs and energy surges.

"WHAT… HOW… CAN I BE AFFECTED…"!?

Tenembrae then tapped the floor with his cane to instantly dispel the crowd before walking calmly toward The Meddler.

"…Of course… he is my opposite… even his powers are in direct opposition to mine…" The Meddler thought to himself.

As Tenembrae stood before him, he simply looked up at him. The Meddler then began to struggle within the stopped Time as Tenembrae readied his attack.

"…But I have a plan…"

Suddenly the deep-red colour scheme shattered as everything in the arena was destroyed in an implosion of neon-blue energy. As the arena began to repair itself, The Meddler landed on his feet only to notice Tenembrae standing on an intact piece of the floor while maintaining a deep-red force-field with his cane raised in the air.

"…Nowhere to run…" The Meddler muttered as he performed a series of gestures with his hands before unleashing a neon-blue blast from them.

Tenembrae then dispelled the force-field and answered the attack with a powerful deep-red vortex from his cane, causing the two attacks to violently collide with one another. Both beings attempted to overpower one another via their attacks, which caused the clashing attacks to emit waves of purple energies that engulfed the entire arena. This caused the shards of the arena to either blink from different places, slow to a crawl or reunite with the arena in a loop. Tenembrae and The Meddler then pushed their clashing attacks to explode, sending them hurled backward; Tenembrae landing on a vertical piece of the arena while The Meddler landed on a piece caught in a loop. He then conjured large neon-blue shuriken and launched them at Tenembrae, but he magically gathered surrounding shards to deflect the attack. Suddenly from above him, a steamroller descended upon him from The Meddler's portal. Tenembrae saw it and accelerated Time on himself to evade it in the last second, before summoning something from one of his portals; an orbital strike from a satellite cannon. The gargantuan blast caught him off guard and he vanished as the laser struck him, leaving behind another large log. As The Meddler reappeared under Tenembrae's platform, the two looked down to see each other and began their attack; The Meddler summoning his sword and unleashing a flurry of slashes while Tenembrae held his cane like a sword and unleashed a barrage of strikes from its tip. Each blow of the high-speed attacks clashed against one another, creating sparks of their energies that forced the shards to orbit around the broken arena. The Meddler and Tenembrae then leapt from shard to shard while still engaged their sword fight, neither being able to gain the upper hand, despite their different styles. Suddenly a rogue blast of Ice descended from above the arena and began to flash freeze the arena, forcing both beings to leap out of its way and onto the bridge. The Meddler then swiped at Tenembrae, causing him to fall at half the speed while The Meddler had managed to land on the bridge and was waiting for his enemy. With his hand outstretched, The Meddler surrounded Tenembrae in a neon-blue field of energy and bound him in place. As the gentleman struggled to break free, neon-blue swords began to materialise around him as The Meddler spread his fingers and immediately clenched his fist. Suddenly the swords converged on Tenembrae, impaling him from all sides and severely wounding him as he fell to the bridge face-first. As he was about to get up, The Meddler plunged his sword through him and the bridge to pin him down. The Meddler then outstretched his hand and conjured a black hole, sucking up Tenembrae and obliterating him in the process.

"…I win…" The Meddler muttered as he crushed the black hole in his hand.

Silence fell as he then began to make his back to the energy pillar in the middle of the repairing arena, when he suddenly stopped in his tracks for a few seconds. Suddenly he somersaulted backward as Tenembrae fell cane-first before him.

"…A surprise attack…"?

"Hm"!

Suddenly The Meddler noticed another cane shooting out of the white hole where Tenembrae fell from and heading right for his exposed back.

"…Crafty… a two pronged attack…if I focus on the cane… he will attack… but if I finish him… the cane will strike me… in that case…" The Meddler thought to himself.

Suddenly the two-pronged attack was undone, with The Meddler standing on the bridge and Tenembrae's headless corpse collapsing to the floor.

"…That hit felt wrong… What the…"

Suddenly The Meddler was struck in the chest with extreme power and precision by the tip of a cane and was hurled across the bridge before tumbling along its surface. He picked himself up while clutching his chest as he saw the one responsible for harming him, deep-red sparks surging out of the wound.

"…WHAT…"!?

"The power to erase Time. I thought you would use it sooner or later"!

Tenembrae then began to rhythmically tap dance on the spot while twirling his cane, readying himself for The Meddler.

"While a two-pronged attack is good in itself, I figured a three-pronged attack would be enough for you".

The Meddler then began to think to himself as he regained his composure.

"…Crafty old man… he knew that I would go for a third option… erasing Time for a moment would erase it from the timelines… anything that happened in the erased Time would be beyond our sight…"

From the distance of the area, dragons fought from above. Deities clashed in the back ground. Two other beings leapt upon the cogs while locking blades. The Meddler then swept his hand across his chest to dispel the deep-red sparks as Tenembrae continued to ready himself.

"…GG, old man… GG…"

Suddenly The Meddler summoned his arm rifle and fired upon the gentleman, but he unleashed a flurry of thrusts to deflect every single bullet without blinking. As he did, The Meddler summoned his sword and unleashed an absolute slice at his enemy. Tenembrae immediately spun his cane before lunging to unleash an absolute pierce at him. The two attacks collided into each other before imploding on itself, causing both beings to run at each other and clash weapons once again before locking them in a fierce struggle. The neon-blue bolts surging across the spinning cogs below as the two beings pushed against each other to overpower one another.

"…You are an admirable opponent… definitely one of my top ten..."

"Ngh"!

"…But I WILL win this… as I have… many times before…"

With those words, The Meddler unleashed an explosive wave of neon-blue energy to repel Tenembrae. But he managed to land on his hand and propelled himself backward with it before landing on his feet.

"Then let us dance, youngin'". He declared while assuming the stance.

Without warning, Tenembrae briefly spun his cane before lunging and thrusting it forward in a dash, his feet sliding over the floor in the process. The Meddler stomped his dominant foot before charging along the floor, his sword ready at his side. Suddenly the two attacks collided explosively before the two engaged in a fierce sword fight. Tenembrae utilising parries, ripostes, flips and twirls against The Meddler's acrobatic attacks and The Meddler utilising blocks, counters, somersaults and spins against Tenembrae's graceful attacks. As the fight continued for hours, both beings were carefully watching each other for openings. Suddenly The Meddler sent Tenembrae flying back with a crescent kick, but the gentleman threw himself off the bridge's side as he hit the floor. The Meddler was confused by this, until he saw a massive ball of fire descending upon the entire bridge. As he was about to use his free hand to swing to the underside of the bridge, two bullets flew from the arena and shot through it.

"…WHAT…"?! He exclaimed as he fell face-first on the floor.

He then saw Tenembrae standing on the underside of the bridge before turning his attention to the fireball descending upon him. As he and the entire top side of the bridge was consumed in the flames, The Meddler vanished, leaving behind another log. But Tenembrae caught onto this and tuned Space itself to force The Meddler to reappear upside-down above Tenembrae.

"…What the…"

Suddenly The Meddler was struck by Tenembrae's multi-thrust barrage before being hurled into the spinning cogs above him, the villain having no time to react to the surprise attack as deep-red sparks surged across his entire body.

"…He used the bullets… that I shot him with at the beginning…"

As he flew into the cogs, Tenembrae breathed a sigh of relief and wiped the sweat from his brow.

"That should hold him, but it won't be forever. I need to come up with a plan to defeat him".

Suddenly he started to feel dizzy as his surroundings started to distort, before forcing himself to leap to the edge to evade The Meddler as he dropped sword-first down to the floor. Tenembrae nearly slid off the bridge, but held onto its side for dear life as his enemy picked himself up and made his way to him. Tenembrae then began to dangle off the side and swing his body as The Meddler continued to make his way toward him, neon-blue sparks crackling as he dragged his sword alongside him. As The Meddler approached the gentleman, he raised his left leg and brought it down upon him with extreme force. But Tenembrae swung himself around the bridge using his momentum after letting go in the last second, landing on his feet but still feeling dizzy. Tenembrae then shook his head to shake off the dizziness before glancing at his enemy and twirling around The Meddler's downward slash, then parried his crescent kick. As they continued their sword fight, they are forced to occasionally evade rogue streams of fire and ice, massive bladed weapons and swarms of cards and crosses made of energy by switching from the top-side to the underside of the bridge. Despite the constant change in locations, the two beings continued their fight with neither gaining the upper hand as their swordsmanship was too equal. Tenembrae continued to use his precision and elegance in his fight, relying on his feints and footwork against his enemy to maintain balance and mobility against him while attacking and counter-attacking with precise and fast thrusts, lunges, swipes and kicks. The Meddler continued to use his aggression and agility in the fight, relying on somersaults and various flips against his enemy to keep on the offensive while attacking and counter-attacking with wide, fast and powerful swings and kicks from the floor and mid-air via jumps and spins in several directions. As Tenembrae continued his sword fight against The Meddler, he suddenly found himself surrounded by several Meddlers.

"…I was wondering when the illusion would take hold…"

Tenembrae shook his head to try and snap himself out of it, but the illusions remained. As he tried to advance, the other Meddlers began their attack. While he fended them all off, it was revealed that he was flailing aimlessly at the air. The Meddler then warped Space to flip the area upside-down before walking toward his vulnerable

enemy.

"…Like fish in a barrel…" He muttered as his hand became a living void while sucking up Tenembrae.

Within seconds, the gentleman disappeared into the void as The Meddler's hand reverted to normal. But he grew cautious, waiting for the gentleman to make his miraculous appearance. Meanwhile Tenembrae continued to fend off the army of Meddlers, but he sensed the change of location and smirked. As he did, the army of Meddlers leapt into the air and dived at him.

"It's about time"!

With those words, he raised his cane and dispelled the illusion with a wave of deep-red energy. Tenembrae then found himself floating in the endless void and began to ponder to himself.

"It's a good thing I received that warning. I would have been in real trouble without it".

Tenembrae then closed his eyes for a few seconds to send a telepathic message to himself from a few minutes in the past before warping himself out of the void and into another location with a single step. He found himself standing in the middle of a massive horizontal cog, with a vast amounts of spinning cogs of various sizes and shape above, below and before him as neon-blue arcs of energy surged along the cogs. Tenembrae then peeked into a gap in the cogs above to see the underside of the bridge they were fighting on, several miles above him as well as The Meddler looking around to find him.

"Good. It looks like he hasn't found me ye…."

Suddenly Tenembrae took cover behind the pillar as bullets began to riddle his general location, before The Meddler looked carefully at the affected area. As he did, Tenembrae staggered forward and fell to his knees in agony.

"What"!? He thought to himself as he checked himself to find a few bullet holes in his back and leg.

As he was about to place his hand over his wound, he immediately stopped.

"No. If I were to heal these wounds, he would be able to sense me. And given my current condition, I would most certainly be killed". Tenembrae thought to himself.

He then kept his eye on The Meddler as he was forced to sneak across the spinning cogs, doing his best to block out the agony from his wounds while being as quiet as possible. The Meddler meanwhile began to grow impatient, but began to focus on the cogs above him as he stood on the underside of the bridge.

"…The old man… so he's hiding from me… somewhere in the cogs… If I go in after him… I would be caught in another one of his traps..." The Meddler thought to himself.

Tenembrae continued to traverse the network of cogs as quietly as he can, from pressing his back on the vertical surfaces to climbing down the teeth of nearby cogs. After a while, he spotted something several miles below and in the centre of them.

"So that's where it is".

"…OLD MAN…"

With those words, The Meddler fired upon Tenembrae's current location and forced him to backflip to a distant pillar. But he was not unscathed, as he looked at his right arm to see a couple of grazes that tore through his sleeve and seared the flesh.

"Drat! Not again"!

The Meddler listened out for the gentleman, before conjuring a few shuriken made from his neon-blue energy in his hand.

"…If he won't come out… then I'll flush him out…" He thought to himself as he threw them at the area where he fired upon.

Tenembrae noticed this and leaped toward the strange opening before falling on a cog with a thud, alerting The Meddler and making him fire at the area instinctively. Tenembrae was forced to roll off the cog to evade the gunfire and fall into the abyss below, but he managed to grab onto a massive cylinder cog at the last second and pull himself up.

"…OLD MAN… YOU CAN HIDE, BUT YOU CAN'T HIDE FOREVER…"

Tenembrae softly ran along the spinning cog as The Meddler began to pace, looking out for the gentleman as he did.

"…I FIGURED YOU OUT AS A GENTLEMAN… NOT A COWARD…"

This caused Tenembrae to pause briefly, but he continued to traverse up the cogs to reach the strange opening. As he grabbed the teeth of a spinning vertical cog and began to ascend, he saw a few neon-blue shurikens fly into the cylinder cog.

"That was close". He thought to himself.

"…I GUESS THAT ALL GENTLEMEN ARE COWARDS… A SHAME REALLY… I GUESS THIS IS WHY THEY ARE OBSOLETE… GENTLEMEN SHOULD BE PUT OUT OF THEIR MISERY…"

Tenembrae then leapt from the top of the cog onto the teeth of another and held on for dear life as his wounds continued to bleed. As he was being carried upward, he saw The Meddler firing upon random spots across the network of cogs while addressing his enemy.

"…WHERE WAS ALL THAT BRAVADO AT THE BEGINNING… I THOUGHT YOU WANTED TO END THIS… INSTEAD YOU WANT TO DRAG THIS OUT FOR AS LONG AS POSSIBLE…"

The gentleman then leapt onto the pipe and climbed across it, narrowly avoiding the surges of neon-blue energy as well as the ricocheting bullets and shuriken from The Meddler himself.

"…I MUST ADMIT… OUT OF ALL THE SPACE-TIME MANIPULATORS I HAVE SLAUGHTERED… YOU ARE BY FAR THE MOST DISAPPOINTING…"

Tenembrae then dropped down to a series of cone-shaped cogs and used the teeth to squeeze into one of its gaps as it rotates before dropping down to the horizontal cogs below and quietly ran across them. As he did, The Meddler continued to fire at his general location, barely missing the back of his feet in the process until he jumped into the teeth of a vertical cog above him.

"…IT'S NO WONDER YOU FAILED SO MANY TIMES IN YOUR ADVENTURES… IF THE ONLY THING YOU ARE GOOD AT IS RUNNING AND HIDING… IT'S NO WONDER SO MANY PEOPLE HATE YOU…"

Suddenly Tenembrae pointed his cane at the coned cogs where he previously was, creating a deep-red duplicate of himself to emerge and made his way up the cogs. The Meddler sensed the duplicate and immediately destroyed it by summoning neon-blue swords around it to converge and detonate violently. The Meddler immediately conjured a large shuriken made of his energy in his hand and threw it through the explosion and at the source of the duplicate's location.

"…A SNEAK ATTACK… WILL NOT WORK ON ME…"

Tenembrae meanwhile flipped across the smaller cogs, using them as platforms to get to the massive vertical cog in the distance. As he climbed the cog's teeth, he then began to create another duplicate. But as he did, he noticed the shuriken dislodging itself and flying through the air at Tenembrae himself.

"What"!?

With no time to spare, he twirled his cane and lunged at it. He smirked as he successfully caught it by the hole in its centre before flicking his wrist and sending it away. Tenembrae then created another duplicate with a wave of his cane beside him before the two leapt off the cog from both sides. The duplicate hopped from cog to cog until it was ahead of the flung shuriken, forcing it to chase after it.

"…TRYING TO RUN… OLD MAN…"? The Meddler roared as he fired upon the duplicate.

While he was distracted by the agile duplicate, the real Tenembrae climbed onto a horizontal cog and quietly made his way across it.

"That should keep you busy for a while". He thought to himself as he removed the bullets and healed himself.

The Meddler sensed this and outstretched his free hand at his location, but had to retract it as the duplicate leapt up before him. With a smirk, the duplicate was immediately sliced in several pieces with a single stroke before exploding. But as it did, the explosion dispersed deep-red energy all over The Meddler while the shuriken that pursued the duplicate flew toward him. As he prepared to catch the projectile, he noticed that he was surrounded on all sides by his own bullets infused with deep-red energy.

"…My bullets… the ones deflected by the old man…"

But as they converged on him, he simply destroyed them with a flick of the wrist as well as the deep-red energy that covered him. Tenembrae then noticed that he was approaching another cog and leapt off to avoid being crushed. He then grabbed the pipe below and swung into the opening before rolling along the floor as he landed. The gentleman then found himself within a long and narrow tunnel surging with neon-blue energy and picked himself off the floor.

"So…. This will lead me to the core". He thought to himself as he walked into the tunnel.

As he did, The Meddler continued to try and draw him out by firing into the cogs and taunting him.

"…I'VE GOT TO HAND IT TO YOU… OLD MAN… YOU CERTAINLY ARE A WILY SON OF A BITCH… YOU ARE PROVING MORE IMPRESSIVE THAN YOUR PREDECESSOR… FOR THAT YOU HAVE MY RESPECT… BUT I VOW THAT I WILL DESTROY YOU… YOU ARE MUCH TOO DANGEROUS TO BE KEPT ALIVE…"

Eventually Tenembrae found his way into a large circular room coursing with neon-blue energy that seemed to be originating from a strange, pulsating dodecahedron. The energy pillar from the arena was also in this room, protected by the dodecahedron. Tenembrae then made his way to it and placed his hand on it while walking around it, inspecting it carefully.

"Bingo. If I destroy this, perhaps-"

*BTOOM*

Tenembrae was blasted from behind and smashed into the core before falling on his back to the floor. As he writhed in pain, he was immediately dragged backwards along the floor before both of his arms were instantly destroyed as he reached for his cane.

"…So… THIS is where you've been hiding…"

Tenembrae was suddenly lifted by The Meddler before being grabbed by the neck and lifted off the floor. As he struggled to break free, The Meddler's grip was too tight.

"…You were right about one thing… This IS where it all ends…"

Suddenly The Meddler began punching and back-handing viciously before tossing him to the floor. As Tenembrae tried to pick himself up, he began to cough and sputter up his own blood. The Meddler then made his way to his enemy and picked up his cane on the way.

"…Every decision… every consequence… it all led you to the same fate…" He declared as he disintegrated it in his hand.

He then kicked Tenembrae with extreme force, sending him flying to the ceiling before crashing to the floor with extreme force. The Meddler then lifted him telekinetically off the floor before throwing him aside again, hurling him across the room before he slid to its walls with a crash. As he summoned all of his remaining strength to pick himself up, he was immediately pinned down by The Meddler as he placed his left foot on his chest.

"…Destruction… at my hand…" He declared as he summoned his sword and held it aloft before pointing it down at Tenembrae.

With a swift motion, The Meddler plunged the sword through Tenembrae's head and through the floor.


End file.
